Beverage Dispensing Machine

ABSTRACT

A beverage dispensing machine ( 2 ) has a housing that provides a receptacle for receiving an expandable cartridge ( 12 ) that is coupled into the machine so that it can receive a charge of water. A kneading system ( 40 ) is provided to act on the cartridge within the receptacle. The kneading system is activated after water has been allowed to enter the cartridge and mechanically acts on or from the exterior of the cartridge in order to compress and release regions of the cartridge in order to create vigorous agitation to move the contents of the cartridge around inside the main compartment and bring them into close contact with a charge of water from the supply. Such a machine allows a wide variety of beverages to be created conveniently on demand from freeze-dried ingredients that can be stored inside the cartridges with a long shelf life.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and machine suitable fordomestic use for dispensing beverages and certain foods and, morespecifically, to a dispenser, which rapidly prepares a drinkable productfrom the contents of a cartridge that is inserted into the machine,containing solid difficult-to-dissolve ingredients and, morespecifically, freeze-dried fruit or vegetable ingredients and/orfreeze-dried fruit or vegetable juices. This is a novel technical fieldnot previously addressed in the art of domestic beverage dispensingmachines.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known how to make cold beverages such as juices and fruitsmoothies from fresh ingredients by using a juicer or blender. However,such machines require a substantial amount of cleaning after each usesince the product comes into contact with components of the machine.Moreover fresh ingredients have a very limited shelf life.

Numerous machines are known for brewing coffee and tea by passing hotwater through a cartridge containing coffee grounds or other substancesfrom which a beverage can be brewed. These are easier to maintain, butare limited in the ingredients that can be used. The TASSIMO (RegisteredTrade Mark) machine is described in a multitude of patent documentsincluding, for example, PTL 0001: U.S. Pat. No. 7,097,074 B (KRAFT FOODSR & D INC). 2006 Aug. 29.

This system uses an essentially rigid cartridge, which has a foil sealthat can be pierced in order to create an inlet that allows water topass along a convoluted path through the beverage ingredients containedwithin the cartridge. The beverage can then be directly discharged intoa receptacle.

An example of a multi-drink beverage vending machine is manufactured byBEVYZ (Trade Mark). This machine uses capsules in the form of rigidcartridges sealed with foil lids that contain liquid ingredients likejuice concentrates or flavor mixtures. The dispensing machine described,for example, in PTL 0002: EP 2430955 A (MDS GLOBAL HOLDING LTD). 2012Mar. 21. is designed to compress a base of the capsule in order to ejectthe contents into a container at the same time as a charge of water.

Machines are also known for preparing beverages using flexiblecartridges. One such system which has been on the market since 1984 issupplied under the FLAVIA (Registered Trade Mark) brand, and uses aflexible cartridge containing beverage ingredients such as tea or coffeeand a paper filter. The cartridge has a plastic nozzle, which allows itto be clipped into a machine that passes water through the cartridge anddispenses a drink directly from an outlet of the cartridge.

Another coffee brewing machine is described in PTL 0003: US 2004025701 A(COLSTON). 2004 Feb. 12. as an adaptation of the above type of machine.It holds the cartridge in a clamp. The clamp is a cavity with movablewalls. In the FIG. 4 embodiment, it is proposed to oscillate a movableregion of a clamp holding a sachet containing coffee grounds underpressure in order to agitate the ingredients or to pump liquid throughthe sachet. The focus of this disclosure is on brewing coffee or tea.This approach is not suitable for the preparation of beverages fromfreeze-dried fruit or vegetable ingredients. The type of ‘agitation’envisaged is suggestive of something more calm and controlled thanenvisaged by the present invention.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It would be useful to provide a machine that could reconstitute solidfreeze-dried ingredients rapidly and conveniently on demand.Freeze-drying uniquely preserves the flavours and vitamin content offresh ingredients. After rehydration, a freeze-dried orange juice canhave more than 200% greater vitamin C content than a typical retailjuice for example. Freeze-drying reduces the volume and weight of ajuice or smoothie beverage by 5 to 9 times, facilitating storage andtransport for the consumer and across the supply chain. If thefreeze-dried ingredients are vacuum packed they can be stored at ambienttemperature for several years. The use of mixtures of freeze-driedingredients of different flavours offers the potential for a widevariety of product offerings.

None of the systems described above would be suitable however for thepreparation of beverages from freeze-dried fruit or vegetableingredients. While freeze-dried coffee liquor, for example, can besuccessfully dissolved in boiling water, rehydration of freeze-driedfruit or vegetable ingredients is not as straightforward, especially ifa cold beverage is required. The mere addition of water to theseingredients tends to create insoluble cement that resists furthercomplete rehydration and homogenization, clogs filters and is difficultto dispense out of a cartridge.

Technical Problem

The present invention aims to overcome the problems of rehydratingand/or bringing back the dry product into solution, preferably usingchilled water within a timescale suitable for on-demand use at home of,say, 30 to 60 seconds, and in such a way that the product is fullycontained within the cartridge and does not come into contact with thedispensing machine.

Technical Solution

The invention recognises that these problems can be best overcome byemploying a method, which acts on or from the exterior of a cartridge inorder to vigorously agitate the contents and thereby dissolve themajority of the contents by mechanical action. The purpose of thevigorous agitation is to rehydrate and homogenise freeze-driedingredients quickly and efficiently.

The present invention accordingly provides a method of producing abeverage from dry ingredients contained within a sealed flexiblecartridge, comprising breaking the seal to introduce a charge of waterand characterised in that the ingredients comprise freeze-dried fruit orvegetable ingredients and/or freeze-dried fruit or vegetable juice, andin that the method comprises the use of a mechanism acting on or from anexterior of the cartridge to vigorously agitate the water with theingredients inside the cartridge to produce the beverage under lowhydrostatic pressure.

The water charge is preferably at least of equal volume to theingredients, and the cartridge expandable so that the ingredients andwater are able to move freely and loosely, and intermingle chaoticallyand randomly, moving up and down in an irregular manner within thecartridge under the effects of the manipulation. Several charges ofwater may pass sequentially through the cartridge to provide the desiredbeverage. The ingredients in the interior of the cartridge are under lowhydrostatic pressure, typically less than 1 to 10 KiloPascal ofoverpressure. This contrasts markedly with the machines that produceespresso coffee where the ingredients are under substantially more thanatmospheric pressure, for example 9 bar. COLSTON, for example, suggestsnormal tea brewing at 1 bar and espresso at 5 to 15 bar and one of themain objectives of that invention is to provide support for a flexiblecartridge to withstand these pressures.

The present invention also provides a machine and cartridge designs asspecified in the appended claims to facilitate the method of theinvention.

Advantageous Effects

The vigorous agitation under low hydrostatic pressure of these difficultto dissolve or reconstitute ingredients with water overcomes theproblems of cement creation. The cartridge design can also contribute tothe vigorous agitation by the use of a roller moving over its ridged,corrugated, pimpled or dimpled surface that can be compressed duringmanipulation and will pop or snap back into shape on release, throwingoff any ingredient lumps or aggregations back into the water to add tothe agitation and chaotic mixing movement within the cartridge.

The reader is intended to understand that low hydrostatic pressurewithin the cartridge means the overpressure that can arise in thecartridge as a result of operation of the machine. This overpressure isless than one atmosphere of overpressure and possibly substantiallylower hydrostatic pressures. This eliminates the risk of bursting thecartridge and as well as preventing unnecessary consolidation of theingredients.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be well understood some embodimentsthereof will now be described, by way of example only, with reference tothe accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front plan view of a first embodiment of the invention usinglinear roller motion to agitate the ingredients in a cartridge;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front plan view of a second embodiment which uses a rotarymotion;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a third embodiment which uses a paddle mixer;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a fourth embodiment which uses anelectromagnetically driven mixer;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a fifth embodiment which uses ultrasonicagitation;

FIG. 7 is a side view of a sixth embodiment similar to the firstembodiment but illustrating the effect of using a corrugated cartridge;and

FIG. 8 shows plan, side and perspective views of two designs for a majorsurface of a cartridge.

MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A first embodiment of a household machine for dispensing beverages willnow be described by reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The term beverage isused for the product of the machine. The term the intended to cover anyproduct created, whether it is a traditional drink such as a smoothie,or other liquid product that can be made from the freeze-driedingredients such as soup, sauce, baby food and the like.

The beverage dispenser machine has a housing with a water supplyconnection 4. Ideally the machine is connected to a permanent watersource, but it may also contain a water reservoir to be filled up by theuser when required as with a typical household coffee filtering machine.The housing defines a receptacle for receiving a flexible cartridge orpouch 12. A control panel is provided on the housing with switches tostart and stop a beverage preparation cycle. The panel may also allowthe user to select different programmes. A door or cover over thecartridge receptacle may be provided. It will be appreciated that asuitable closure such as a hinged or roll-up door could be used to coverthe receptacle in use and allow access for loading and unloadingcartridges. Since beverage dispensing machines are commonplace domesticarticles, the basic details will not be described as the skilled readerwill readily appreciate that known features such as microprocessorcontrol can readily be adapted for use with the kneading system requiredby the present invention

As shown in FIG. 1 the water supply for the machine is connected to afirst coupling 14 for connecting an inlet section 16 of the cartridge toa water source. There is a second outlet coupling 18 for connecting anoutlet section 20 of the cartridge to a machine outlet (preferably thecartridge outlet itself to avoid the need for additional machinecomponents that require cleaning) that dispenses a beverage product intoa container.

A kneading system is provided to act on the cartridge within thereceptacle. The kneading system is activated after a charge of water hasbeen allowed to enter the cartridge and mechanically acts on theexterior of the pouch to move the contents of the pouch around,facilitating rehydration and/or the dissolution of the contained productin the water. The outlet coupling is provided to seal or release theoutlet section of the cartridge in order to prevent dispensing of theproduct during the operation of the kneading system. After apredetermined time an outlet valve can be opened to dispense thebeverage from the cartridge outlet 20 into the container. Typicallyseveral charges of water will be passed through a single cartridge toproduce the complete product.

The machine can use various different kneading systems and theembodiments show some examples of different approaches.

The Cartridge

The cartridge 12 is designed to hold sufficient freeze-dried fruit orvegetable ingredients and/or freeze-dried fruit or vegetable juice tomake a single serving of a beverage.

The cartridge is an expandable soft pouch and has a flexible envelope 26of material such as a food-safe plastic material that can beheat-sealed. A suitable material is polyethylene (PE) lined polyamide(nylon).

The cartridge has inlet, main compartment 28 and outlet sections. Themain compartment has major surfaces on each side face, which arepreferably joined together by gusseted panels along their longitudinaledges so that the compartment can expand when filled with a charge ofwater. The inlet section 16 contains a one-way valve 30 to prevent wateror product being pushed back into the machine during a kneading phase ofits operation. A sponge filter 32 is located inside the main compartmentclose to the outlet section. The structure, material, size and shape ofthe filter is dependent on the product to be processed, but typically itis a highly porous, sponge-like material. A filter with a volume oftypically 10-20 ml and composed of highly porous, open-poredpolyurethane foam has been found to be effective. PE nets may also beused.

The inlet and outlet sections 16, 20 are narrower than the maincompartment. A further sealed compartment 34 is created downstream ofthe filter to house additional ingredients. These are ingredients whichare difficult to dissolve or which are insoluble and which may clog theexit filter 32 of the main ingredient compartment or for other reasonsshould not be subjected to kneading. This may include ingredients for:

-   -   Providing mouth feel (pulp, seeds, gums, fruit pieces etc.)    -   Ingredient to provide fizz, where gas production during kneading        would be undesirable.

Typical dimensions of the cartridge are: Main compartment 120 mm×70mm×20 mm (with gussets extended) for a 300 ml serving size. The overalllength including inlet and outlet sections is 180 mm.

The corners of the main compartment are rounded, as are the shoulderswhere the inlet and outlet sections merge with the main compartment.This prevents ingredients lodging in these places.

The inlet and outlet sections 16, 20 provide airtight seals 36 for thecartridge during storage. The seals are designed to prevent ingress ofmoisture, air etc. and egress of ingredients during storage andhandling. When the inlet section is coupled to the machine, this seal atthe inlet is punctured during the cartridge loading process. The outletseal is preferably designed such that it opens during the kneadingprocess without the need for a special mechanism. For example it may bea dissolvable seal, or a seal that can be broken open by pressure duringthe kneading process.

As shown in FIG. 8 the major surfaces of the cartridge may be providedwith formations such as a ridged, pimpled, dimpled or corrugated surfaceat least on its internal face. The main external surface of thecartridge as shown in FIG. 8a has an array of pyramid shaped dimples 80which become pyramidal projections facing an interior of the cartridge.A perspective view of this internal surface is shown in FIG. 8a 3. Thealternative design in FIG. 8b shows a simple creased corrugation 90. Inthis design the corrugation in the top and bottom major surfaces of thecartridge are oriented at 90 degrees to each other. These surfacefeatures are there to help breaking up ingredient and introduce waterbehind ingredient blocks. Obviously many more configurations of surfacecorrugations, irregularities and dimpling are possible and may havedifferent advantage for different ingredient types. In particular thegrid size may be adapted to create the best results for the texture andgranularity of the ingredient. The cartridge material is such that theseconfigurations may be deformed under instantaneous pressure and snap orpop back into place when the pressure is removed.

Internal perforated walls 64 may be provided to divide up the interiorof the cartridge as described in more detail below.

Couplings

The inlet coupling 14 is used to clamp the inlet section of thecartridge in place and may provide the mechanism for puncturing theseal. This coupling has several additional functions. It holds acartridge in place, it also allows water to enter the cartridge duringan initial filling phase of the beverage preparation operation, as wellas resealing the cartridge during the kneading phase of the operation inorder to prevent product from being pushed back into the machine. Thisfunction of the inlet coupling may be in addition to or replace theone-way valve 30, which is preferably provided inside the cartridge. Thecoupling can be implemented as a bar that is pressed by motorisedmechanism across the cartridge inlet. It will be appreciated that otherdesign approaches may be adopted that allow these functions to beperformed.

The outlet coupling 18 is similar to the inlet coupling 14 in thisembodiment, and provides a bar, which is latched over the outlet sectionof the cartridge. The bar can be motorised to provide sealing pressureon the outlet section to close it off during the kneading phase of thebeverage preparation operation. When the kneading phase is complete, themotor can be controlled to release sealing pressure and allow theproduct to exit the cartridge through the outlet section 20 into acontainer.

Kneading Systems

The system is designed to provide rehydration of the freeze-driedingredients within the cartridge, without having machine componentscontact the contents of the cartridge. The rehydration of freeze-driedfruit or vegetable ingredients and/or freeze-dried fruit or vegetablejuice presents several technical problems, especially when producingcold beverages. Many fruit or vegetable based solid ingredients tend tocake, impeding effective rehydration or leading to inhomogeneousproduct, or they may leave sticky residue, clogging filters or theproduct outlet. The vigorous kneading of a soft cartridge has been foundto resolve these technical problems effectively. The objective of thekneading system is to create vigorous internal agitation to move the dryingredients around inside the cartridge and bring them into closecontact with a charge of water in order to mix and homogenise thecontents of the cartridge, while maintaining a low hydrostatic pressure.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 3, the kneading system comprises aroller 40 which operates on a major surface of the exterior of thecartridge. The cartridge is supported against a fixed stage 50 and aflexible curtain 60 may be interposed between the roller and thecartridge itself. The roller 40 can be mounted on a motorised sledgethat is moved under pressure along the longitudinal axis of thecartridge. The roller is mounted using a spring-loaded mechanism thatmaintains roller pressure on the cartridge in the directionperpendicular to the cartridge surface. This pressure can be variedduring operation of the kneading system and the roller can also belifted clear from the cartridge surface, by operation of a separatemotorised drive mechanism to facilitate loading of the cartridge. Therollers are preferably segmented rubber rollers so that each segment 44can roll freely independently of the other segments. The rollers mayhave a smooth, ridged, knobbly or other textured surface. The sledge ispreferably driven so that it can complete one full up and down movementacross the surface of the main section of the cartridge approximatelyonce every one to two seconds.

FIG. 2 shows an arrangement in which the cartridge is mounted with arubber separation membrane or curtain 60 interposed between the roller40 and the wall of the cartridge. The curtain 60 is made of flexiblerubber sheeting. During operation of the machine there is a risk that acartridge may burst or leak and this will cause contamination of thekneading system. Since the kneading system is difficult to clean, theuse of the curtain 60 improves hygiene and protects the mechanism.

If the kneading mechanism, rollers and rubber sheet are located in theback of the machine, the counter plate needs to be located between theuser and the cartridge, and can for example take the form of a door forthe receptacle 50.

The effect of the motion of the sledge up and down over the maincompartment is to periodically and sequentially compress and releaseregions of the main compartment between the rollers causing the contentsof the cartridge to be forced to move around. In the compressed region,the ingredients are brought into intimate contact with water to aiddissolution. Ridges or other formations on an internal surface of themain compartment walls as described above in relation to FIG. 8 alsoimprove mixing.

The filter 32 is designed and positioned preferably such that thekneading roller 40 passes over it, aiding the periodic unclogging of thefilter, as well as the intimate mixing of water and ingredients.

It will be appreciated that the design engineer has many options forimplementing this mechanism. Some of these are illustrated in the otherembodiments. In all of them, the purpose is to ensure that the cartridgeis manipulated in such a manner as to bring the water and solid contentsinto intimate contact with one another under varying pressure conditionsso as to encourage full rehydration and/or dissolution of the variousingredients in a short time.

The kneading process is preferably carried out with multiple cycles ofadding water, kneading and dispensing to allow a modestly sizedcartridge to dispense an acceptable beverage volume.

An arrangement of kneading rollers 40 on both sides of the ingredientcartridge would also be desirable to facilitate the mixing of water andingredients and would reduce the likelihood of ingredients sticking tothe cartridge walls. Acting on both sides of the cartridge requires amore complex mechanism and requires careful design to provide useraccess for loading and unloading of the cartridge.

In the Figures, the stage 50 is shown as having a flat surface; howevera ridged or corrugated surface can be provided as this will facilitatethe kneading action and prevent ingredients sticking to an adjacent sideof the cartridge wall.

Alternative Kneading Systems

FIG. 3 shows a system in which the roller is mounted centrally at therear of the receptacle so that it can rotate or oscillate about an axialmounting 62 perpendicular to the main surface of the cartridge. For thisdesign it is preferable that a central compartment of the cartridge benearly square or circular rather than rectangular so that the rotatingroller covers the entire surface of the cartridge including the filter32 during its motion. Alternatively, several rollers could be providedto act on different regions of the cartridge.

The kneading roller 40 pivots continuously around the centre of thecartridge's main compartment. To facilitate this movement the roller issegmented, and each segment 44 can rotate around the axis of the rollerindependently to allow a central segment to rotate slower than the outerones.

In this embodiment the cartridge is modified by the presence of one ormore perforated flexible walls 64 dividing the main ingredientcompartment into individual chambers. Without such walls, depending onthe consistency of the product, the roller may simply move the productin a circular motion without achieving proper mixing. With the wallspresent, the roller forces the product through the holes in the dividingwalls, preventing the formation of large ingredient clusters andsignificantly improving mixing efficiency. Instead of perforated sheetwalls, nets or fabrics in one or more layers may be used.

A further variation of the kneading system is shown in FIG. 4, which isalso shown being used with a cartridge having a flexible, perforatedinternal wall 64. In this embodiment, the rear of thecartridge-containing receptacle contains a lever 80, which is connectedto an eccentric motor drive mechanism 82. The lever supports a pivotpoint 84 for a kneading paddle 86. Respective ends of the lever supportcorresponding ends of the paddle 86 with an intervening spring-loadedsystem 88. This spring system provides flexibility especially during theearly stages of mixing when part of the cartridge contents may be solidor highly viscous and would otherwise block the paddle movement. Theoscillating movement of the lever is translated into a rocking or seesawmovement of the paddle to alternately compress and release opposite endsof the main compartment causing the contents to be pushed vigorously upand down within the cartridge. For the cartridge dimensions shown inFIG. 1, the paddles would move at a frequency of about 1 cps to 10 cpsto provide effective mixing. The other side of the cartridge issupported by a stage 50 as in the previous embodiments. This may be adoor of the receptacle.

The rapidity of fluid movement achievable with this kneading system isconsiderable and the staccato movement helps create the requiredvigorous agitation. Ideally irregular driving motion is preferable asthis can generate a more chaotic vigorous agitation within thecartridge, without increasing the internal hydrostatic pressure.

It would also be possible to design a system where paddles operated onboth sides of the cartridge. Although an up and down kneading movementhas been illustrated, it will be appreciated that side-o-side kneadingcould also be arranged.

A curtain (not shown) may be interposed between the paddle and thecartridge in order to allow the drive mechanism to remain isolated fromany leakage from the cartridge and facilitate cleaning of thereceptacle. Other parts of the machine are as described in the previousembodiments.

The kneading systems of FIGS. 5 and 6 use transducers which act from theexterior of the cartridge in order to generate vigorous agitation withinit. FIG. 5 shows an electromagnetic transducer 71 and FIG. 6 uses anultrasonic transducer 72. The objective of these is to move the liquidaround really fast and break up the ingredient. These systems induceinternal vibration and agitation by external action. The objective inthis case is not to move the entire product charge along the cartridgebut to create smaller scale agitation or stirring of the water that isin contact with undissolved ingredients. An agitator drive using a drivecoil similar to that used in many loud-speakers to provide the agitationcould be considered as shown in FIG. 5.

Ultrasound could also be employed as shown in FIG. 6. The use ofultrasound for mixing, emulsifying and hydrating liquids and solids is awell-known industrial process. An ultrasound source such as apiezo-electric source 72 with impedance matching horn could be employed.It will be necessary to provide acoustic contact between the impedancematching horn and the product in the cartridge. This could be providedby a pad of soft incompressible gel or silicone pads, which make contactwith the external surface of the cartridge. Alternatively, waterdiverted from the water inlet could be employed to provide the acousticcontact. It will be appreciated that aspects of each embodimentdescribed may be combined in different ways.

FIG. 7 shows a side view of the corrugated cartridge with the roller 40disengaged and engaged. The ingredients 70 get squeezed against thecartridge wall when the roller passes and may stick, forming a hard todissolve mass. The corrugation may help in two ways: while the rollerpasses, the corrugation may help to break up ingredients into smallermasses; and once the roller has passed, the corrugation springs backinto shape, lifting the ingredients from the wall of the cartridge,breaking them up into smaller fragment and allowing water to pass behindthe ingredient masses as indicated by arrows 91 and ingredient blobs inFIG. 7(b).

Cartridge Contents

The ingredients 70 for the beverage are contained in the cartridge 12,preferably in powder or granule form. The solid ingredients can consistof a combination of:

-   -   Freeze- or spray-dried fruit or vegetable juice    -   Freeze-dried whole-fruit or vegetable (for smoothies, purees        etc.)    -   Sugar or sugar/acid beverage base    -   Fruit or vegetable pulp, starch, nuts, grains or seeds or        similar to provide mouth feel    -   Minor ingredients such as sweeteners, fibres, flavours, spices,        preservatives, colouring, fizz generating chemicals, colour etc.    -   Desiccated ingredients and nutrients such as vitamins, proteins,        minerals and the like from synthetic or natural sources (e.g.        soya, spirulina etc.)    -   Burstable or soluble capsules for liquid minor ingredients (such        as liquid flavors, sweeteners)    -   Desiccants and other process aides that do not end up in the        final beverage

Although mainly intended for use with solid ingredients in powder orgranule format, cartridges may contain liquid ingredients like juice orbeverage concentrates, plant components (such as teas), meat or animalproducts (soup, sauces).

The total ingredient volume is such that typically >50% or more of theextended volume of the cartridge is left empty for the addition of awater charge and to provide volume for the kneading process.

In this embodiment cartridges contain typically 50 g of fruit and juicesolids in a cartridge of 150-170 ml net volume when its gusseted sidepanels are fully extended. The cartridge volume is typically 50 mlunexpanded for a 300 ml single serve smoothie or juice. This is drivenby the fact that typical juice/smoothies contain about 50 g solidmatter, mainly sugars, per serving, that need to be in the pouch. Theexpanded volume is given by the fact that you need at least twice thatamount of water for this not to turn to cement (e.g. you are making adouble strength smoothie in the first pass, i.e. needing 2 to 3 chargesof water). With some freeze-dried juice-only ingredients a bit less ispossible (say 100 ml). If you use sweeteners (e.g. less sugar) smallerpackages are possible. The additional ingredient compartment at theoutlet for fibre and such contains perhaps 1-10 g of solid ingredients.

The freeze-dried ingredients are vacuum packed in the cartridge toprovide an extended ambient shelf life of several years.

Especially in the early stages of the rehydration process freeze-driedjuice or vegetable ingredients have a strong tendency to stick to thewall of the cartridge during kneading and so impede the furtherrehydration process. This is particularly an issue where the kneadingmechanism acts only on one side of the cartridge and against a rigidstage, as for example shown in FIG. 2. Making the stage from flexible orsoft materials helps with some types of ingredients. Providing one orboth of the main cartridge walls with corrugations, dimples or othersuch protrusions has been found effective to mitigate this problem. Thisis illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8. Preferably these protrusions aredesigned such that they are compressed by the kneading mechanism andresume their original shape when the kneading pressure subsides. Thisseparates stuck ingredients from the wall, and can help to break uplarger ingredient conglomerates.

Although a cartridge with one main compartment has been disclosed, ifmore complex products are required, the main compartment could bedivided into two of more compartments, either side-by-side or overlayingeach other. The subsidiary compartment could then contain a tuningingredient like pulp that could be added according to taste. Eachcompartment would require a separate water inlet, and water flow wouldbe controlled by the controller in order to change the mixing ratio ofingredients.

In order to maximise the product range available from a machine usingthis method, cartridges can also be supplied which contain ingredientssuch as tea which would not ordinarily require such processing. In suchcases, the machine can be programmed not to apply the external action tothe cartridge.

Operation of the Machine

An operating cycle of the machine includes a cartridge installationphase, a water inlet phase in which a charge of water is fed into thecartridge, a kneading phase to rehydrate and mix the product with water,and a dispensing phase. The last three phases may be repeated severaltimes.

In the installation phase the cartridge with the necessary ingredientsfor the chosen beverage is placed by the user in the receptacle. Thecartridge is engaged with the couplings 14 and 18 that hold its inletand outlet sections. The user can then use the control panel to selectan appropriate time and or mode of operation for the machine orinstructions can be automatically read by the machine from thecartridge. The required time and/or programme can be indicated on thecartridge depending on the ingredients. In some cases longer or shorteroperation times may be required. For other beverages the machine may beprogrammed to charge the cartridge with water in stages. Once the doorof the receptacle is closed the operating cycle can commence with thepiercing of the inlet seal and charging with water from the watersupply. With water in the cartridge and non-return valve 30 with theassistance of the inlet coupling holding the inlet section sealed, thekneading phase can begin. There may be multiple kneading phases andadditional water charges if prescribed by the programme. Once at least afirst kneading phase is complete, the outlet valve is operated to breakthe outlet seal (if it has not been opened by pressure during thekneading phase) and allow the beverage to be dispensed via thecompartment 34 into a container. The additional ingredients incompartment 34 are added to the beverage in this dispensing phase.

Once the cycle is complete the used cartridge can be removed from thereceptacle and discarded. Since the beverage has not passed through anypart of the machine itself the cleaning requirement is minimal.

The objective of all agitation mechanisms and cartridge featuresdescribed here is to facilitate the rapid movement of water andingredients with respect to each other in order to constantly break upingredient conglomerates, bringing water into contact with freshsurfaces of the ingredient body and detaching ingredients that becomestuck to the surface of the cartridge by the action of the kneading orvibrating mechanisms. This is necessary, since on contact with water thefreeze dried ingredients of interest here tend to form a solid body witha relatively water impermeable surface, impeding further dissolution ofingredients. This process of caking of freeze dried ingredients occursbecause of the hygroscopic nature of the ingredients, which allows thethin surface layer of a mass of material to both absorb large amounts ofwater while simultaneously inducing a material property change. Incontrast, the brewing mechanisms as for example described by COLSON,focus on passing water through a compacted and essentially static bodyof non-hygroscopic ingredients. The emphasis in the case of the COLSONdevice is on providing counter-pressure to the hydrostatic pressure ofthe brewing water.

In contrast the mechanism described here is designed to createturbulence and shear forces in the liquid by forcing water repeatedlythrough small gaps in the ingredients, and in some cases to create watermovement sufficiently rapid that inertial forces in the fluid becomesignificant, helping to break up ingredients. Other than throughkneading this can be achieved by introducing strong and rapid vibrationto the content of the cartridge, at a frequency where inertial forcesare significant for the typical volumes considered here, such afrequency of >10 cycles per second.

The manipulation time of 20 s to 1 min is what is acceptable foron-demand serving and that time is achievable with vigorous kneading.

Pressure: Hydrostatic pressure is very low (so that the cartridge doesnot burst). The pressure applied by the kneading mechanism is typicallyless than 10 kiloPascal.

Speed: The kneading mechanism would move about 1 per second up or down,perhaps twice that much. The rotary mechanism can be faster and that isone of its attractions. It would go at perhaps 1-5 revolutions persecond. The electromagnet vibrating mechanism would typically be drivenstraight off the mains so 50 or 100 Hz is a reasonable operatingfrequency.

1-15. (canceled)
 16. A machine for producing a beverage comprisingreconstituted freeze-dried fruit and/or vegetable ingredients, themachine comprising: a water supply; a housing comprising a receptaclefor receiving a sealed flexible, expandable cartridge having an inletsection adapted to be coupled to the water supply, a main compartmentwith major surfaces on each side, and an outlet section; coupling meansto allow a charge of chilled water to enter the sealed flexible,expandable cartridge; and a kneading system configured to actmechanically on the exterior of the sealed flexible, expandablecartridge to move ingredients inside the sealed flexible cartridge andbring the ingredients into close contact with the water under ahydrostatic pressure less than 10 kiloPascal.
 17. The machine of claim16, wherein the kneading system comprises at least one roller that movesover a surface of the sealed flexible, expandable cartridge in order tocompress and release regions of the sealed flexible cartridge.
 18. Themachine of claim 17, wherein the at least one roller has independentlymovable segments.
 19. The machine of claim 16, wherein the kneadingsystem comprises a pivotally mounted paddle and a driving mechanism forrocking the paddle against the main compartment of the sealed flexible,expandable cartridge.
 20. The machine of claim 16, wherein the kneadingsystem comprises an electromagnetic transducer configured to drive apaddle to act mechanically on the exterior of the sealed flexible,expandable cartridge.
 21. The machine of claim 16, wherein the kneadingsystem comprises an ultrasound source acting from the exterior of thesealed flexible, expandable cartridge.
 22. A sealed flexible cartridge,comprising a sealed pouch having an expandable main compartment andinlet and outlet sections, that merge with the expandable maincompartment, wherein the main compartment has major surfaces on eachside and contains freeze-dried fruit and/or vegetable ingredients and/orfreeze-dried fruit or vegetable juice, and further wherein at least oneof the major surfaces is ridged, corrugated or dimpled on at least aninternally facing surface, wherein the cartridge is adapted for use inthe machine of claim
 16. 23. The sealed flexible cartridge of claim 22,wherein the main compartment further comprises a compressible foamfilter adjacent the outlet section and adapted to be acted on by thekneading system of the machine.
 24. The sealed flexible cartridge ofclaim 22, further comprising a non-return valve adjacent the inletsection to allow water to enter but not exit the main compartment. 25.The sealed flexible cartridge of claim 22, wherein the main compartmentfurther comprises one or more permeable walls such that duringactivation of the kneading system, at least part of the contents of thecartridge is pushed through the one or more permeable walls tofacilitate the mixing and homogenization of the beverage.
 26. The sealedflexible cartridge of claim 23, further comprising a separately sealedcompartment disposed in the outlet section downstream of the filter tohouse additional ingredients.
 27. The sealed flexible cartridge of claim22, wherein the main compartment is divided into multiple ingredientcompartments, each provided with a separate inlet section.
 28. Thesealed flexible cartridge of claim 27, wherein each of the multipleingredient compartments is provided with a separate outlet section.